A lawyer representing Ghana’s former Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said his client is pursuing permanent US residency rather than returning to his home country, where he fears he would not be tried fairly on corruption charges.
Ofori-Atta is being held in an ICE detention facility in Virginia after his arrest by US immigration officials in January for overstaying on a visa.
Enayat Qasimi told Semafor his client has a “pathway to residency” that he would pursue. He claimed there were “serious questions” about the independence of the Ghanaian judiciary and said that Ofori-Atta had been subjected to a “political witch hunt” that meant he was unlikely to receive a fair trial over alleged financial impropriety while in office, from 2017 to 2024. The office of Ghana’s attorney general declined to comment. Ghana has issued an extradition request for Ofori-Atta’s return, which US officials told Semafor had been received.
Ghana was gripped by the worst economic crisis in a generation under Ofori-Atta’s tenure, during the final years of the administration led by his cousin former President Nana Akufo-Addo. The pursuit of Ofori-Atta over alleged financial impropriety has become emblematic of the vow by President John Dramani Mahama, who came last year, to tackle corruption.